Confront the King
Overview Faction: Mages Guild Quest giver: Hannibal Traven at the Imperial City Arcane University Prerequisites: Completion of Ambush Reward: Rank Arch-Mage (technically, you already are arch-mage after Traven sacrifices himself, but you are officially recognized by Raminus Polus after you return.), Arch-Mage Robes, and... Background Information Hannibal Traven gives you your final task of killing Mannimarco, the King of Worms. Quest Details Traven promotes you to Arch-Mage, sacrifices himself and puts his own soul into the Colossal Black Soul Gem. Search his body and take his key and the Soul Gem. Head to Echo Cave, where the King of Worms can be found. Outside the cave, a guard will be waiting. He gives a lovely speech and states he will die protecting the key, and proceeds to attack you. Oblige him, take his key, and enter the cave. Work your way through the cave and the many Necromancers until you get to the bottom level where you encounter Mannimarco the King of Worms. He also has a speech for you, in which he recognizes the growing annoyance you are to necromancers, and then proceeds to use his enthrall spell on you (this is the same spell that turned poor Mucianus Allias into a worm thrall). However the presence of the colossal black soul gem in your inventory negates this effect. Thus robbed of his critical weapon, you can finish him off. He is twenty levels above your own, with a range of nasty spells and scrolls, not to mention he's standing next to a lever that activates a claw trap. Kill him and the job is done. He carries the Staff of Worms, which allows you to reanimate the dead. Head back to the University, Raminus Polus will acknowledge you as Arch-Mage and provide guidance on what you should do next. You will receive a new robe/hood and other bonuses. You can use the offices/quarters as your own. You can also enlist two apprentices (there's a few that wander the University) to follow you and fight. However, if you kill them, you will be expelled from the guild and forced to collect ingredients for readmission, unlike the generic Dark Brotherhood murderers that follow you. There's also an Enchanted chest, which multiplies any ingredient you put in it after 24 hours (excluding Nirnroot and ingredients from the Shivering Isles). Speak to Raminus Polus about Alchemy Acquisitions after being made Arch-Mage for a short quest regarding the chest. This is the final quest of the Mages Guild. You can go many ways from here, such as try to destroy the remnants of the necromancer threat. Keep in mind that all the items previously locked in display cases are no longer considered stolen. In fact the only items still considered 'stealable' are on and around the counter in the room left of where you enter the Anvil Mages Guild. Notes *It is possible to pickpocket Mannimarco's staff although it has little practical use at this point as its only effect is to reanimate a dead character and since you cannot leave the area until Mannimarco is dead, the only person you could use it on is Mannimarco himself. *The chest at the end of the bed in the Arch-Mage's quarters resets itself periodically. Do not store items in it. Furthermore, while the nightstand next to the bed does not reset, it still has scripts on it so it is also not sensible to store items in it, either. *There is a glitch in which Mannimarco cannot be killed, all attacks (including magic) go right through him. PC users can simply type "kill" on the console after clicking Mannimarco, but the Xbox360 and PS3 users need to load an earlier savegame or you can dive into the water. Just make sure you have waterbreathing ability. If Mannimarco is hostile towards you he will follow and eventually drown. *There is also a chance that when Hannibla Traven takes his life to fill the Black Soul Gem, he will not actually die. You can pickpocket the soul gem from him and continue on with the quest with no issue. You will not be able to get the staff from him to do thieves guild quest since he disappears, even though he doesn't die. To fix this reload a previous save, if autosave is one you should have one just before you entered his quarters. Category:Quests Category:Mages Guild Quests